The preachers quoted here call the cross the point that gives meaning to everything else in Christianity and the test of whatever claims the name Christian. They describe it as the place where sin's penalty was exhausted and God's law honoured, and as something that changes those who come to it and that disciples carry.
Paul made the cross the summary of his message. "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). He resolved to know nothing among the Corinthians "save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (2:2), and wrote, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14).1
Scripture explains the cross chiefly as a death in the place of others. "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities ... the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6). Christ "bare our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24), "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God" (3:18). God set him forth "to be a propitiation through faith in his blood" (Romans 3:25).2 The Heidelberg Catechism explains why only Christ could do it: "no mere creature can sustain the burden of God's eternal wrath against sin, so as to deliver others from it."3
It also describes what that death achieved. It made peace: God reconciled all things to himself, "having made peace through the blood of his cross" (Colossians 1:20). It was a victory: Christ disarmed principalities and powers, "triumphing over them in it" (2:15). And it redeemed: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13).
Theologians have stressed these themes differently. One medieval account held that the cross satisfied the honour of God which sin had robbed. Others have held that the earliest view was of Christ as victor over sin, death and the devil. Many evangelicals argue that substitution lies at the centre and that the other themes depend on it.
The cross is also the pattern of the Christian's life. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20). "Our old man is crucified with him" (Romans 6:6). And the disciple is told to take up his own cross daily (Luke 9:23).
At the cross God's love and God's justice are seen together. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8), and he did it in such a way "that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (3:26).
- Strong's Greek 4716, staurós: "a stake or post (as set upright), i.e. (specially), a pole or cross (as an instrument of capital punishment)...".
- Strong's Greek 2435, hilastḗrion: "an expiatory (place or thing), i.e. (concretely) an atoning victim, or (specially) the lid of the Ark (in the...".
- Various, The Heidelberg Catechism, "Question 14 Can there be found anywhere, one, who is a mere creature...".
In their own words
Each line below is quoted exactly from a sermon on this site. Follow the link to hear or read it where it was said.
The cross is the great and consummate point of everything which gives meaning to everything else, both the person, the work and the teaching.
T. Austin-Sparks
in Reality Through the Cross
Listen at 32:56
The cross is the test of everything which deserves to be called Christian.
Art Katz
in The Cross of Christ - Part 1
Listen at 13:34
The cross is the place of exhausted penalty and magnified law.
Horatius Bonar
in Rev. 11:8. the Cross of the Lord Jesus
Read in context
The Cross is therefore central for justification, and central for the forgiveness of sins, and the justification of the sinner.
Jessie Penn-Lewis
in The Centrality of the Cross
Read in context
The cross is to radically change us, give us a whole new perspective, a whole new sense of direction, a whole new sense of vision.
David Ravenhill
in The Two Sides of the Cross
Listen at 1:03:47
The cross is indeed obligatory to a Spirit-filled life of discipleship, but it is something we love, and rejoice to carry.
L.E. Maxwell
in The Cross and Attainment (Continued)
Read in context
What Scripture says
- 1 Corinthians 1:18 the preaching of the cross is the power of God
- Isaiah 53:5-6 wounded for our transgressions; the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all
- 1 Peter 2:24 he bore our sins in his own body on the tree
- Galatians 6:14 God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross
- Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ
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